ethics have gone the way of the dodo bird

For years, I've been of the opinion that Hillary Clinton has no ethical core, that she believes in whatever works to her advantage.  The GOP has managed to nominate someone as its presidential candidate who puts HRC in the shade.

It seems to me that Donald Trump believes to his very core that he is a highly ethical person.  Which would be true, if we went by the adage that ethics are defined by whatever suits Donald Trump in this fleeting instance of time. 

A dear friend & Trump supporter brushed away questions about his four bankruptcies.  "He made the rules work for him." 

Alas, I wasn't asking if he'd  broken the law.  I was asking if it was okay with her that he'd declared bankruptcy four times, without once filing for PERSONAL bankruptcy, a fact he blatantly ballyhooes as proof positive of his brilliant business mind.

Hillary Clinton has been painted as a person who has done shady things, who cleverly eludes retribution by only just barely teetering on the acceptable side of the law.  I have no doubt that one of her mottos is "Me first, me most, me best."  But, frankly, I could say the same about a lot of politicians & biz big wigs. 

On the other hand, Donald Trump's four bankruptcies lead to the business ~AND~ personal bankruptcies of suppliers & contractors who were paid pennies on the dollar.  In point of fact, he takes care - and great pride - in risking others' $$$, never his own. 

Human beings don't seem to register with DJT.  He was so clueless & callous of other people's lives, that on the very day the UK was reeling from the Brexit vote, HE was bragging on how he'd made money off of it.

Just because Trump did well - whether with Brexit or his casinos - doesn't mean others did, too.  In the case of his casinos, while they buckled, he made millions, even shifted some personal debts from his books to the casinos'. 

All legal, but still stinks. 

His investors suffered, the people who provided goods & services suffered, but DJT came out smelling like a rose. According to the New York Times, Trump prospered while "he put a number of local (Atlantic City) contractors & suppliers out of business." 

 

"blue collar billionaire"

To my friend & others who support a Trump presidency, a few points:

• Donald Trump stayed within the law & accepted business practice with his business bankruptcies.  While he never filed for personal bankruptcy, you can bet that many of the people who owned or worked for companies slammed by the bankruptcies did.  Illegal - no.  Unethical - in my book, yes.

• Listen to what the man says, over & over.  He takes pride in using people, in living consequence free. 

• He sets out to use people.  Listen to him - profits, not people, matter to him.

Over & over, Donald Trump has taken huge risks, while making sure that others were set up to take the fall.  He made millions while others who thought they were investing in a great opportunity went down the tubes.  He is at the top of his game when skating away from disaster, bigger & better than ever before.

I've tried to find a kinder, softer way of saying this, but failed, so here goes ~  ~  if you find his history as a businessman to be a sure sign that he's the man for these perilous times, then I say, in a totally unbiased, non-partisan, spoken as a human being who strives to be a decent member of society & citizen of these United States, then he's playing you for a fool.